14 June 2001

2001/CYC/05 PRESS RELEASE

Cyclacel Limited, the UK-based cancer therapeutics company, announced today the completion of a £34 million Series C private placement with a global syndicate of institutional investors.

The placement, which was oversubscribed, was led by INVESCO Private Capital, a leading based private equity group based in New York. Other new investors included BankInvest Asset Management of Copenhagen, Lloyds TSB Development Capital of London, Vertex Management of Singapore, GeneChem Management of Montreal, Singapore Economic Development Board, Noble Grossart of Edinburgh, Quester Capital Management of London and Finsbury Life Sciences Investment Trust of London. Returning investors included Dresdner Kleinwort Capital, Merifin Capital, Merlin Biosciences, Northern Ventures and Scottish Equity Partners.

The net proceeds to the Company after expenses will fund operations for more than two years and will be used to advance several candidates from Cyclacel's drug portfolio into clinical trials and further expand the Company's drug discovery and development capabilities. Cyclacel was advised by Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein of New York. Parag Saxena, Managing Director of INVESCO Private Capital, Inc., will be joining Cyclacel's Board of Directors.

Mr Saxena said:
"Cyclacel is a young UK company that has become a globally recognised player in the cell cycle field and its applications in discovering novel drugs to treat cancer. The company's strategic positioning, its technology and its experienced management team present an excellent investment opportunity. We are looking forward to helping Cyclacel achieve its potential."

Spiro Rombotis, Cyclacel's Chief Executive said: "We are delighted that an experienced group of international investors shares our belief that we can deliver on our vision of discovering novel cancer drugs based on world-class understanding of the biology underlying the disease. With one drug in the clinic, a pipeline of potential anti-cancer medicines emerging from our three drug discovery engines, and our Polgen gene target business, we are now well financed to take Cyclacel into its next phase of growth."

Notes to Editors:
Cyclacel Limited is a biotechnology company developing novel therapeutics for treating cancer and other serious diseases by employing insights in cell cycle control biology and state-of-the-art rational drug design chemistry. Cyclacel's portfolio includes small molecule CDK inhibitors (CYC200 and CYC400), Pimetic™ small molecules mimicking the function of natural cancer suppressing gene proteins (CYC100), Penetratin®-small molecule complexes (CYC300), and intelligent screening, delivery and targeting systems (Fluorescience®, Penetratin® and SGC™ technologies). The Polgen division is in a world-first effort to validate target biology, develop assays and discover drugs arising from over 100 genomic targets regulating cancer cell division.

INVESCO Private Capital has invested in approximately 300 private equity partnerships and 250 direct transactions and venture capital investments since 1982. Originally part of Citicorp Investment Management, it became Chancellor Capital Management in 1988, Chancellor LGT after merging with Liechtenstein Global Trust in 1996 and was acquired by AMVESCAP in 1998. AMVESCAP, the owner of INVESCO Private Capital, is one of the world's largest independent asset management companies. AMVESCAP manages £261 ($370) billion as of 31 March 2001 under the INVESCO and AIM brands, has over 500 investment professionals, is present in over 40 locations globally and manages assets on behalf of clients in more than 100 countries.

The BankInvest Group is one of Denmark's leading asset managers of unit trusts and large portfolios for private, institutional and corporate clients. Established in 1969 the Group has approximately ?6 billion euros under management invested in quoted and unquoted companies, with ?1.2 billion in life sciences. Bio Venture, a venture capital arm of the BankInvest Group, invests solely in unquoted biotechnology companies and manages two fully invested funds (BBU I and BBU II) valued at ?90m. The investment in Cyclacel was made through a third fund, BI Biomedical Venture III (BBV III), which closed in early 2001 with a total of ?240m. Investments are made in companies with a potential for global growth, where management and owners with competence in the sector want to develop their business in alliance with a strong financial partner. The BankInvest portfolio consists of 24 companies in total in the Nordic region, UK, France and the USA. Bio Venture has eight employees in Denmark, France and the UK.

Lloyds TSB Development Capital (LDC) is a leading venture capital company operating from 8 UK offices. LDC invests in small- to medium-size businesses and provides funding for growth, management buy-outs and buy-ins. In 2000, LDC invested £110 million in 25 companies. LDC's portfolio has an estimated value of £1.25 billion.

Vertex Management started in 1988 as the venture capital arm of Singapore Technologies Group is a global venture capital firm with over US$1 billion under management. It is headquartered in Singapore with offices in the United States, London, Denmark, Taiwan, Beijing, Hong Kong and Israel. As at 31 December 2000, Vertex invested US$710 million in 262 companies in the seed to mezzanine stage of financing in various industries including software, internet, communications, electronics and life sciences of which 86 have listed or have been fully divested. Vertex is part of the Singapore Technologies Group, a conglomerate with 2000 revenues of over US$5 billion that is one of the largest industrial and technology groups in Singapore with a diversified range of businesses in engineering, technology, infrastructure, property and finance. As at 30 June 2000 the Singapore Technologies group had 428 subsidiaries, 92 associates and 13 joint ventures and offices throughout Asia, USA and Europe.

GeneChem Management was launched in March 1997 with committed capital of CDN$100 million. It is sponsored by BioChem Pharma, Inc. and a group of investors including SOFINOV (La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec), the Fonds de Solidarité des Travailleurs du Québec, the National Bank of Canada, the Royal Bank Capital Corporation, the Pension funds of the Montreal Urban Community Transportation Commission and the Montreal Urban Community Police. GeneChem Technologies Venture Fund L.P. is fully dedicated to making investments in genomics-related projects carried out in academic institutions or in companies.

EDB Investments Pte Ltd ("EDBI") is a wholly-owned subsidiary and the investment arm of the Singapore Economic Development Board. The investment in Cyclacel was made through the Biomedical Investment Sciences Investment Fund of Singapore. Started in 1990, EDBI makes equity investments in promising companies to stimulate economic development. Under the Co-Investment Programme, EDBI has made investment commitments of over S$2 billion in more than 200 projects as at 1 June 2000.

Noble Grossart Investments Limited invests principally in unlisted companies providing finance for management buy-outs, management buy-ins, corporate restructuring and development capital. Noble Grossart Investments is a wholly owned subsidiary within the Noble Grossart group.

Quester Capital Management is an independent venture capital company with more than £300 million under management founded in 1984 and specialising in unquoted growth companies in information and communications technologies and healthcare and life sciences. Quester manages institutional venture capital funds on behalf of international investors, funds from academic institutions, including Bath, Bristol and Oxford Universities, four listed investment trusts, and an e-commerce fund for CGNU, a major UK insurance group.

Spiro Rombotis, 42, joined Cyclacel in August 1997. He has 18 years of experience with pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Mr. Rombotis was previously Vice President, International Operations & Business Development, Managing Director, Europe and Director of a Japanese joint venture, all at The Liposome Company, Inc.; Vice President, Pharmaceuticals, Central & Eastern Europe and Director International Marketing, at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company; Head European Marketing and Sales and Head Corporate Development, at Centocor, Inc.; and in Business Development at Novartis AG. He holds a BA from Williams College, USA and an MBA and Master's degree in Hospital Management with honours from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Parag Saxena, 46, Head of INVESCO Private Capital, Inc., is a seasoned venture capitalist with nearly twenty years experience and a record of over 300 private transactions helping numerous private companies become public. He recently led INVESCO's investments in Argose, Amber Networks, Genomics Collaborative, Ishoni Networks, and Xenon Genetics as well as the following investments which have gone public: Alkermes, ARM Holdings, Celgene, Healthsouth Rehabilitation, Indigo and Transgenomic. He serves on the Partnership Advisory Boards of Accel, Gryphon, Domain Partners, Essex Woodlands, Kiwi I Ventures, Salix Venture Partners and Skyline Venture Partners and on several private and public company boards. He co-founded the private capital group at Citicorp Investment Management, an INVESCO predecessor, where he built a $1.5 billion small-cap group with a top-decile record. Previously Mr. Saxena worked in the Technology Management Services Group of Booz, Allen and Hamilton focusing on business strategy development and at Becton Dickinson as a product manager. Mr. Saxena received an M.B.A. from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from West Virginia College of Graduate Studies and a B.Tech from The Indian Institute of Technology.

© 2001 - Cyclacel Limited. Cyclacel®, Fluorescience® and Penetratin® are registered trademarks.

Enquiries:
Spiro Rombotis, Cyclacel +44 (0) 1382 206 062
David Dible/Chris Gardner, HCC De Facto +44 (0) 20 7496 3300